Han Kang won the Nobel Prize for Literature...What is the meaning of the awards ceremony?

■ Host: Yoo Da-won Anchor
■ Starring: Kim Heon-sik, cultural critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN24] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Writer Han Kang attends the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm, Sweden. Writer Han Kang will receive a Nobel Prize medal and a certificate from the King of Sweden and will give his acceptance speech at the banquet. Let's learn about the meaning of Han Kang's Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Prize ceremony with cultural critic Kim Heon-sik. Please come in. After a while, Han Kang will now win the Nobel Prize for Literature. First, it's being held at a concert hall in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, right?

[Kim Heon-sik]
That's right. The concert hall is a very famous Stockholm attraction where classical performances are specialized. The floor of the concert hall where the ceremony will be held is blue. The blue carpet was laid because it was the symbolic color of the Nobel Prize. So if you look at it, the royal family is sitting on the right side of the audience and the winners are sitting on the left side. Usually, Nobel laureates wear tailwear for men. In addition, women will wear evening dresses, and since we let them wear traditional clothes, there was a question of whether Han Kang would wear hanbok, but now that I look at it, I don't think she's wearing hanbok. Anyway, the music that marks the beginning of the event is played and the winners appear at the ceremony, and it begins in earnest. You can see it in that order.

[Anchor]
You're watching the Stockholm concert live on the screen. Looking at it now, I think the orchestra is also playing. And I saw Han Kang wearing a black evening dress. What's the order of today's award ceremony?

[Kim Heon-sik]
First of all, it's a relatively simple sequence. So, as you know, the Nobel Peace Prize is held in Oslo, Norway, so you can't see it. You will speak on behalf of the judges in each field in the short order. In the process of winning various awards, these are revealed, and when the winner is called, the King of Sweden will present medals and Nobel Prize certificates to the winner, and the order of name and award comes first in physics. Then the Nobel Prize in economics comes in the order of chemistry, physiology and medicine, and then the Nobel Prize in literature. For your information, the certificates received by Nobel laureates contain not only the contents of the certificate, but also pictures. You may ask what illustrations are, but you may have often seen picture books from Northern Europe. There are illustrations of the Northern European style, and some people are caricatures. It's not like I drew the faces of the winners. It is known to illustrate antique things like the natural environment or symbolic sculptures.

[Anchor]
The illustration is a symbol of the Nobel Prize.

[Kim Heon-sik]
It's different every year from time to time, so in that sense, it raises questions about what will be in the illustration this time. So, in a way, even the illustrations in the certificate are upgraded to a work and are worried a lot.

[Anchor]
Who will be in charge of the Nobel Prize speech and the name of the winner?

[Kim Heon-sik]
First of all, it's different in each field, but in the case of Han Kang, since it's a literary award, Swedish novelist Ellen Matthorne will be in charge. I'm a lifetime member of the Swedish Academy. I'm a judge. There are 18 life members, and one of them will be. So I'm going to give a brief speech about Han Kang's award. The King of Sweden will present medals and certificates to the writer of Han Kang, and it is said that they are originally speaking Swedish when they call them, but they also speak Korean, so it is noteworthy to us. And what material is the certificate received by the winner? We should also look at this, but the Nobel Prize for Literature is made of leather parchment. So the reason why it's made of parchment is because we used to write on parchment before paper in the case of the West, so it can be interpreted as making it out of parchment using that tradition.

[Anchor]
And when the awards ceremony is over, they will move. It is said that they will move to Stockholm City Hall and hold a banquet, but is Han Kang presenting his acceptance speech here?

[Kim Heon-sik]
These processes can be a bit unfamiliar. There are many long processes for the awards ceremony. The award ceremony described earlier ends at the concert hall. Then you will move to Stockholm City Hall, 1km away. I think the banquet will start for about an hour to an hour and a half here. As I mentioned earlier, we usually receive the Blue Dragon Film Award and say something on the spot. But I don't express my feelings on the spot. It was already known that Han Kang will probably do it at the end of the banquet, but the important thing is when. As a result, the banquet begins at Stockholm City Hall at 7 p.m. local time and 3 a.m. local time. So I think I'll do it for about three and a half hours. So, the winners' banquet ends at about 10:35 p.m. right now. It's about 6:35 a.m. in Korea, and it's known that each person makes his or her acceptance speech. So I'm curious about what Han Kang will say. Then, is this the end? Also, after expressing your feelings, you move from the Blue Hall, or the Blue Hall of the City Hall to the Golden Hall. In the case of Golden Hall, it is a hall decorated with 18 million gold mosaic. There's a ball here. In fact, we're not used to the ball, but in the West, we're used to the ball, so we're going to end the ceremony today.

[Anchor]
In the midst of this, we have no choice but to receive attention on what we will talk about at the banquet. In particular, there was a message about the martial law situation in Korea before the press conference, and I was very shocked by the development of the martial law situation in 2024. You said this, right?

[Kim Heon-sik]
First of all, there was a press conference on the 6th. So there was a lot of interest in whether he would express his position in the meantime because martial law was around four days, and he actually expressed his position on emergency martial law. So, first of all, in the case of a boy coming, I said that I was very shocked because I knew the severity of the situation because I studied the emergency martial law situation in the creative process. Then, I pointed out two points. The first is the images of citizens who resisted with their bare bodies when martial law forces invaded. So I mentioned it in the context that I was in awe of the sincerity and courage. Then he also mentioned the attitude of young police and soldiers. But I pointed it out in connection with the artist's work world. It seemed to be moving as passively as possible. However, in the end, he felt very internal pain and did not act actively to find a solution, but he wrote a literary expression that he acted positively, and he also commented on the emergency martial law of connecting with the world of his work. In any case, Ellen Matthorne, a judge and Swedish life member who mentioned earlier about Han Kang's award, said, "I hope that Han Kang's award will be a great help to Korea." as it is in a severe situation called emergency martial law So, I'm guessing that Han Kang will definitely mention it because there was a review by Ellen Matthorne, a judge and a life member of the Hall of Fame, so that it can be seen that it has become a situation where he cannot help but mention emergency martial law.

[Anchor]
Attention will also be drawn to what kind of message Han Kang will present. Right now, you're watching this live broadcast of the Stockholm Awards in Sweden. It is expected that Han Kang will win the award in a little while. In the midst of this, there is also an event to look back on the world of Han River artists' works in Sweden in time for the Nobel Prize Awards week.

[Kim Heon-sik]
That's right. I mentioned it earlier.When we do awards ceremonies, in the case of other literary awards, we often end up with awards only. It could be a simple refreshment or something like this. So it may be a bit unfamiliar to us, but these days, young people do birthday week. That's why you have an event for a week on your birthday. So, in the case of the Nobel Prize ceremony, there were various events until the 12th, and as I said before, we recorded our favorite items at the Nobel Prize Museum on the 6th and held a press conference. On the 7th, I gave another acceptance speech. At this time, he gave an award speech as if he had written a piece of literature while expressing his views on love, and I was especially impressed by mentioning the role of literature, and the next day, on the 8th, I had a Nobel Prize concert at the Stockholm Concert Hall. So I participated in this concert. And that evening, there was a literary night event where the writings of the winners of the Women's Nobel Prize for Literature were read out in their native language or Swedish. Here, Hanna Cisse, a Swedish actress, and Shin Mi-sung, a Korean-American, read the main part of Han Kang's "Not Saying Goodbye." That's why reading is very important. Actually, Han Kang participated in a lot of reading sessions in the past. So, when I read it, I become aware of parts that I did not think of, and I mentioned the effects of reading very importantly, saying that those who read it are the same. So this time, Han Kang had to do a reading event, and it didn't end after that. There are a variety of events, including the announcement of his plans to visit a multicultural school on the 12th. As a result, the conclusion is that Han Kang's world view, values, literature, art, and events to fully share his work are the characteristics of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

[Anchor]
I think the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded so far. A celebratory performance is being held with the orchestra performance. In a little while, Han Kang will win the award. While waiting, I'll also look at the world of Han Kang's works, but I don't think there's any doubt that it has raised the status of Korean literature.

[Kim Heon-sik]
In fact, our literature was a little frustrated and lethargic. Because there were linguistic limitations and I thought that it was a periphery of literature, but it was in the 1990s that it began to be known in earnest. As you may know when you think of the 1990s, as we have achieved rapid growth, we have gained a lot of interest in culture. A case in point is the syndrome of western films. So there was catchprays that ours was the most global, and there was a globalization strategy beyond the mid-90s. So, we said that we should promote our culture a lot and meet world standards, but we worked on translation support in the work of promoting our culture, and in this case, it was about a subsidy. Then, in the 2000s, the Korean Literature Translation Institute was established, and from then on, we began to systematically support overseas translation of our works, and even worked on linking our writers' works with overseas publishers. Most importantly, it is difficult for publishers to participate in the famous book fair personally. So, when the state applied, we went there and encountered local publishers there, and our literary works were published. What's important is that I met Deborah Smith in the case of Han Kang while participating in the London Book Fair in 2014. At the same time, I met locals who could translate locally, and this time, Han Kang won the award because she translated well in local language and made it acceptable to them. At the same time, he won the Booker Prize, and information, writers such as Cheon Myung-kwan, and Hwang Seok-young were nominated for the Booker Prize or won the prize.

[Anchor]
As you said, in fact, Deborah Smith's contribution to the Nobel Prize in Literature also received attention. The celebratory performance is over. Now, novelist Han Kang will win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Let's hear the speech of Ellen Matthorne, the Swedish Academy's lifetime commissioner. Swedish novelist, Nobel Prize judge, and lifetime member of the Hall of Fame, Ellen Matthorne, won the Nobel Prize for Literature by calling out Han Kang for her explanation of Han Kang. Everyone stood up and watched Han Kang's award. It was conducted in Swedish according to tradition. What did you think, critic? I think it's very overwhelming.

[Kim Heon-sik]
So I made a small speech. The content of the speech first talked about a certain connection between white and red, but eventually, referring to Han Kang's work called White, he pointed out the life, pain, and damage of red in it. This also mentioned the death of a boy in Onda, for example, while telling the stories of the main characters who had no choice but to die in modern history, which is common to the works of Han Kang. Because it's a work that deals with 4.3 in Never Say Goodbye, he pointed out the pain and death in it. In general, it was a small speech that made a comprehensive comment on the characteristics and values of works such as "The Boy Comes After," "White," and "Never Say Goodbye," rather than the early works of Han Kang.

[Anchor]
The performance is going on right now. In fact, the Swedish Academy mentioned earlier that it was a powerful poetic prose against the trauma of history when it revealed the reason for the selection of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Writer Han Kang made her debut as a poet and later as a novelist. So, his father, Han Sung-won, expressed his sentences as delicate, beautiful, and sad, but what do you think of Han Kang's novels and characteristics?

[Kim Heon-sik]
First of all, if it's a novel for us, we tend to see it mainly based on the narrative, that is, the plot. However, Han Kang has characteristics of symbols, metaphors, and compression from an investigation point of view. There is a characteristic that you have to think about it for a long time, solve it, and savor it. Also, as you said, the characteristic of expression is that poetic sentences are used a lot. That's why we use lyrical and intimate sentence expressions. Therefore, these sentence features have a feature that can be very implicitly approached to psychological descriptions. And in terms of composition, it is very dense and dense. So in the case of poetry, it could be a short sentence and a paragraph, but it has a lot of implications, so you can have deep perceptions in that regard. The important thing is that in the case of early works, there were a lot of material and subject consciousness related to personal private areas in the case of Mongojeok and vegetarians. However, in the case of a boy coming and not saying goodbye, they even have a social and historical message while talking about the painful wounds and pains of modern Korean history. So, as Ellen Matthorne pointed out earlier, we should not forget what kind of attitude Han Kang has toward those who have been sacrificed and died in connection with life and death. The pain must be remembered. Because of these remarks, in the end, beyond the characteristics and structure of sentences, there are many messages in the theme consciousness that we should think about in general. And I can appreciate how I have consistently worked on literature. So it's a part that fits well. In the end, the fact that Han Kang constantly shows that love and happiness are at the opposite point of pain and violence is combined with the social and historical context, leading to the Nobel Prize in Literature.

[Anchor]
Right now, Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature and is performing a congratulatory song. In fact, Han Kang was the first Korean to receive the award and also the first Asian female writer. In fact, there was an evaluation that the Nobel Prize for Literature was particularly stingy to Asia and women, but can I say that this part is also changing?

[Kim Heon-sik]
Looking at it, I thought that what I felt was that I had no choice but to accept the very correct criticism and criticism someday. As you said, there were too few female writers and especially fewer Asian winners. As a result, the center of literature is women, and in Asia, it plays a very important role worldwide, whereas the Nobel Prize, especially in literature, did not respect it properly. In particular, although Korean literature has a very high level, there have been areas that have not been recognized. Therefore, the role of Korean literature is very important now, so I had to accept it. That's what I think. However, I think we need to consider whether these changes are temporary or continuous. So in the face of criticism, I hope you have persistence together, not an unusual gesture to pursue balance mechanically at least once.

[Anchor]
I see. It was a live broadcast of the Stockholm Awards in Sweden at this time. We also delivered this part of Han Kang's Nobel Prize winning site in real time. So far, we've talked with cultural critic Kim Heon-sik. Thank you for staying with us until late today.

[Kim Heon-sik]
Thank you.